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<title>I just want someone to talk to (and a little of that human touch) by xDestinyIsCallingx</title>
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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28967034">I just want someone to talk to (and a little of that human touch)</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/xDestinyIsCallingx/pseuds/xDestinyIsCallingx'>xDestinyIsCallingx</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Cobra Kai (Web Series)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, M/M, lawrusso</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 09:54:16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,514</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28967034</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/xDestinyIsCallingx/pseuds/xDestinyIsCallingx</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>AU where Daniel is a widower, raising two kids on his own. </p>
<p>Daniel bumps into Johnny at the Halloween dance he is chaperoning and surprisingly they have a somewhat adult conversation.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Daniel LaRusso/Johnny Lawrence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>70</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>I just want someone to talk to (and a little of that human touch)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I want to do more chapters to this but like always I am impatient and am gonna go ahead and post this snippet I still haven't expanded on yet, but I do like the idea and having typed it up properly it has me thinking about it again.</p>
<p>(more chapters are likely when i have the time)</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Daniel stood to the wayside of the dancehall; making sure to keep his promise to his daughter, Sam, to be invisible. She’d been pretty annoyed that he had volunteered to chaperone the dance but she had come around somewhat. He didn’t blame her, nothing cramped your style like one of your parents hanging around when you were trying to have fun.</p>
<p>It wasn’t even that he didn’t trust her either, he’d, in truth, only accepted just for an excuse to get out of the house. Ever since his wife had passed, he’d felt like he’d been suffocating and then there’d been the return of his high school bully, Johnny Lawrence. He’d been feeling more than a little confused as of late. </p>
<p>He had always butt heads with the guy, even though their rivalry from their high school years had long since been settled. There was just this tension that, even when they were no longer fighting each other, still lingered. He supposed Johnny opening up Cobra Kai again hadn’t helped, old memories resurfacing of the misery that place had caused him, but more than once he had wondered if he was overreacting, holding on too tight to the past. He’d spent some time with Johnny, not a lot, but he’d seemed different, maybe sadder than he remembered. His blonde hair didn’t have the sheen he recalled it having and his eyes held some heavy weariness - it made him wonder what had gone on in his life since they’d last seen each other.</p>
<p>He knew for himself that life hadn’t gone quite as he’d expected. A forty-five year old widower raising two kids on his own was somewhere he certainly did not expect to see himself, but here he was.</p>
<p>He scanned the room for his daughter, sifting through the dense crowd of teenagers until he found her talking with a boy he recognised. Wasn’t he a student of Johnny’s? Daniel felt the urge to break them up, but he saw the smile on Sam’s face and the boy seemed to be acting respectful enough. </p>
<p> </p>
<p><em>Letting your old prejudices get the better of you there, Daniel.</em> He mentally admonished. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>He watched them a few moments more, smiling when Sam laughed at something the boy had said. A sense of melancholy washed over him then.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em> I’m glad she’s happy. </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Just then the music, which had been pretty generic, changed - the DJ playing something a bit more old school. Daniel recognised Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Human Touch’ right away. With the change of music so did the lighting - dimming and changing colour so that the dance floor was now thrown into hues of orange and purple.</p>
<p>Sam looked shyly at the boy and Daniel found himself mentally encouraging him to ask his daughter to dance. He did and as they made their way to the middle of the dance floor, Sam putting her arms around the boy’s neck, Daniel suddenly felt a lump in his throat as he watched the two dance together.</p>
<p>He felt like he needed some air and made his way out of the dance hall as quickly as possible.</p>
<p>He escaped into the hallway and leant against some lockers. </p>
<p>The music filtered out into the halls whilst he tried to compose himself. He wiped at his eyes when he found them suddenly burning. He took a few deep breaths, why had he felt a stab of pain at the image of Sam dancing with that boy? Maybe it reminded him of the way he and Amanda had looked at each other. Suddenly that empty feeling in his chest was more noticeable than before.</p>
<p>A throat clearing made Daniel jump and turn his head quickly to see none other than Johnny Lawrence standing there awkwardly holding some yellow flyers.</p>
<p>“Johnny?”</p>
<p>Johnny’s lips quirked upwards. “Hey. Uh, you okay, man?”</p>
<p>Daniel stood up straighter, embarrassed. “Yeah, I’m fine, thanks.”</p>
<p>“You sure? You looked like you were about to burst your eyes out.”</p>
<p>“I said I’m fine.” Daniel said tersely.</p>
<p>Johnny raised his hands. “Alright, man.”</p>
<p>Daniel sighed, feeling a little guilty until he remembered that Johnny was there, at the school. “Hang on a minute. What are you even doing here? You can’t be on school property.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, I know.” Johnny responded nonchalantly, leaning against the lockers next to Daniel.</p>
<p>Daniel looked at him, eyebrows raised. “I’m serious.”</p>
<p>“Ah, come on.” Johnny said. “I’m not going to do anything. You know me.”</p>
<p>Daniel squinted. “Yeah…” His eyes dropped down to the yellow papers in his hand. He rolled his eyes. “I should have known.”</p>
<p>Johnny frowned. “What?”</p>
<p>“Advertising Cobra Kai.” He said, indicating to the flyers.</p>
<p>Johnny looked down at them. “Yeah? And? You got a problem with that?”</p>
<p>Daniel shrugged. “I don’t know. Should I?”</p>
<p>Johnny’s frown deepened. “What’s that supposed to mean?”</p>
<p>“Come on, Johnny. We both know that Cobra Kai doesn’t exactly have the best track record.”</p>
<p>Johnny looked down at his feet. “Yeah, well, I’m not Kreese.”</p>
<p>Daniel had to agree with him there. “No, you’re not, but don’t you want to leave all that behind? Why bring it back?”</p>
<p>Johnny shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess I just wanted to do it better this time, you know? Do it right.”</p>
<p>Daniel nodded slowly. “I get that.”</p>
<p>They stood in silence for a few moments, the music filling the quiet that had fallen between them.</p>
<p>“So,” Johnny said eventually. “What’s the deal standing out here crying like some kind of loser?”</p>
<p>Daniel shook his head, unable to stop a smile at Johnny’s distinct lack of sensitivity. “Alright, first off, I was not crying.”</p>
<p>“You were nearly crying.”</p>
<p>“Secondly,” Daniel continued. “It doesn’t matter why I’m out here. I was just getting some air.”</p>
<p>Johnny didn’t look convinced. “Fine you weren’t crying. You were close though.”</p>
<p>Daniel opened his mouth to argue but just waved Johnny’s accusation off. “Sure, whatever.”</p>
<p>Johnny smirked. “So, you got kids here?”</p>
<p>“Yeah, my daughter.”</p>
<p>“Bet she’s thrilled you’re here.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, not really. I think she gave me a break though, figured I needed to be around.” His expression turned sad again. “She was always intuitive about those things, just like-”</p>
<p>“Like who?” Johnny asked when Daniel didn’t continue.</p>
<p>Daniel flashed a quick smile more for himself than anything. “Her mother. She always knew when something was up.”</p>
<p>Johnny pocketed his hand not holding the flyers, looking down at the floor. “Your wife. She…?” He motioned his head to the side, letting the unspoken question hang.</p>
<p>“Yeah.” Daniel said, voice a little tight. “She died a couple years ago.”</p>
<p>Johnny nodded, still looking at the ground. He sniffed before responding. “I’m sorry, man. I didn’t know.”</p>
<p>“Hey, why would you, right?” He gave a reassuring smile. “It’s not like we’ve been the best of friends since we left this place.”</p>
<p>Johnny looked around his old school’s hall as he huffed a laugh. “Right.”</p>
<p>Daniel studied Johnny’s profile. “You know,” He let out a breath. “I should probably apologise to you.”</p>
<p>Johnny raised an eyebrow as he turned to look back at him. “Oh yeah?”</p>
<p>Daniel shrugged. “I haven’t exactly made life easy for you lately, I think I’ve just been letting everything build and used you as an outlet. We have a history, sure, but that’s in the past. I’ve been holding onto that a lot lately.”</p>
<p>“So have I.” Johnny sounded tired. “I’ve let my life turn to shit and I got angry. At my dad, at you, everyone. But really I was just angry at myself because I’d let myself become this piece of shit that didn’t care and I believed for a long time that I deserved it. To be miserable and alone.”</p>
<p>Daniel stared at Johnny.</p>
<p>“I mean I’m still alone and pretty miserable.” Johnny said, making Daniel laugh. “But I’m working on it.”</p>
<p>Daniel gave a small smile then looked at the far wall. “You know, we’ve got a lot more in common than I thought.”</p>
<p>Johnny seemed interested. “Yeah?”</p>
<p>Daniel nodded. “We’re just trying to find our way back again.”</p>
<p>“Back to what?”</p>
<p>The corner of Daniel's lips turned up sadly. “I guess we’re both still figuring that out.”</p>
<p>When Daniel looked back at him there was a suspicious mist to his eyes. Johnny didn’t think he’d be here, having a heart to heart with Daniel LaRusso, but then, these days, he’d come to expect just about anything. He knocked Daniel’s shoulder with his.</p>
<p>“You’re alright, LaRusso.”</p>
<p>They both looked ahead.</p>
<p>“Thanks.”</p>
<p>A few students began to filter into the hallway. Daniel cleared his throat and jerked his thumb towards the dance hall.</p>
<p>“I should get back.” He headed back, but turned back to face Johnny, walking backwards. “And you need to leave.”</p>
<p>Johnny waved a hand. “Yeah, yeah. I’m outta here.”</p>
<p>Daniel pointed a finger at him. “I mean it, Johnny.” He gave him a look before disappearing through the dance halls doors.</p>
<p>“Yeah, I know you do.” Johnny said to himself before pushing off the lockers and walking back down the hallway, putting up a few more flyers on the way.</p>
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